New Delhi: A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah called for an all-party meeting on 24 June to discuss the ongoing ethnic clashes in Manipur, the Congress party has demanded that the meeting should be convened by the Prime Minister himself.
Pointing out that the meeting was being called when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a visit to the US, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, alleged Thursday that the meeting was “not important” for the PM. The Prime Minister is scheduled to be back in India on 26 June.
“Manipur has been burning since 50 days, but the Prime Minister remained silent. An all-party meeting was called when the Prime Minister himself is not in the country!” Gandhi wrote on Twitter.
He added: “Clearly, this meeting is not important for the Prime Minister.”
50 दिनों से जल रहा है मणिपुर, मगर प्रधानमंत्री मौन रहे।
सर्वदलीय बैठक तब बुलाई जब प्रधानमंत्री खुद देश में नहीं हैं!
साफ है, प्रधानमंत्री के लिए ये बैठक महत्वपूर्ण नहीं है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 22, 2023
Other party leaders, such as Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal also attacked the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for calling the all-party meeting when Modi is not the country.
The Prime Minister had earlier too drawn flak from the opposition for his silence on the Manipur violence. Despite a growing clamour from the Opposition for him to speak on the issue, he had stayed silent on Manipur even during the 102nd episode of his Mann Ki Baat address Sunday.
When later that evening the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the BJP, released a statement urging peace in Manipur, the Congress accused Modi of “outsourcing” his appeal.
Members of 10 Opposition parties, including the Janata Dal (United), Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, and led by the Congress, had also submitted a memorandum to the PM’s office on 10 June and sought an appointment with Modi to meet and discuss the Manipur conflict. Modi, however, left for the US without meeting them.
Ethnic clashes between Manipur’s Kuki and Meitei communities have continued since 3 May, following a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ taken out to oppose the demand for inclusion of Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category. According to estimates, at least 100 people have lost their lives in the clashes, more than 300 injured and over 50,000 displaced from their homes.
While Home Minister Amit Shah had visited the strife-torn state earlier and made an appeal for peace, the Prime Minister has been silent on the issue in his public addresses.
Also read: Time for Modi to learn from Indira Gandhi. Biren govt is problem, not solution in Manipur
‘PM-level meeting needed’
Responding to Shah’s call for an all-party meeting on the Manipur issue, Venugopal said Thursday that a Prime Minister-level intervention was needed in the issue.
“Home Minister already went there and he did exercises. What is the point of home minister calling the meeting? At least prime minister-level meeting is needed. That too in Manipur”, Venugopal said, while speaking to the media.
Targeting the prime minister for his “silence” on the issue, he added, “Now 53-54 days are over, Manipur is burning like anything. People are clashing like anything. They are fighting each other. So many people lost their lives. The prime minister did not utter a single word. At least a peace call from the Prime minister is expected.”
Former Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh had said earlier that the PM’s “silence” was “hurting” the issue.
Venugopal also took to Twitter to hit out at Shah’s call for an all-party meeting,
“The HM [home minister] himself has presided over this situation and made no progress, in fact things have worsened since his visit. Can we expect genuine peace under his stewardship?” Venugopal wrote.
He added: “Moreover, the continuation of the partisan state government and non-implementation of President’s Rule is a travesty. Any effort for peace must take place in Manipur, where the warring communities are brought on the discussion table and a political solution is arrived at, said the Rajya Sabha MP. “This effort will lack seriousness if it is done sitting in Delhi.”
Well after 50 days of death and destruction in Manipur, HM @AmitShah’s call for an all party meeting is too little too late. The government only woke up after Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji’s address to the people of Manipur.
At the outset, the PM’s absence from such a serious meeting… https://t.co/xIpFMrpqtS
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) June 22, 2023
The Congress party has been mounting attack on the Centre for its “failure” to control the violence in the northeastern state.
On Wednesday, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi made an impassioned appeal to the people of Manipur to bring back “peace and harmony” to the state.
“The unprecedented violence that has devastated the lives of people in your state and uprooted thousands has left a deep wound in the conscience of our nation. I express my condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones. I am deeply saddened to see people forced to flee the only place they call home and leave behind all that they have built over a lifetime,” Sonia said.
She added: “As a mother I understand your pain and I appeal to your good conscience to lead the way. It is my sincere hope that over the coming weeks and months we set out on the long journey of rebuilding trust and emerge stronger from this struggle. I have immense hope and faith in the people of Manipur and I know that together we will overcome this ordeal.”
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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